NYC Taxi News' Abe Mittleman, Carolyn Protz & AutoMarketplace's Dawood Mian discuss the future of NYC’s taxi medallion system, including whether it should continue to exist and if it will survive
On another note, it’s very interesting that the radios were taken out of Yellow Cab’s because there wasn’t enough supply in Manhattan particularly but at the same time, they did not want to add more medallions because that will ultimately dilute the value of the medallion, but it was at the cost of The individual driver taking away another source of income, which would ultimately be their demise 40 years later
Interesting point re. cabs losing (giving up) the radios and the ultimate impact down the road. My guess is taxi drivers more willingly gave them up because street hails were keeping them busy enough, had no base commission involved. Abe had one (Ding-a-Ling), but when he gave it up, he indicated it wasn't a big deal (although it also didn't cost him money). The whole radio dynamic was very interesting. Essentially, there used to be a market for buying / selling base franchises! Imagine, if Uber / Lyft followed this model and instead of taking a commission, sold a NYC franchise to receive their dispatches? Do you think drivers would like this model?
Well, I am not sure how much exactly definitely north of $20,000 if you ask me. But what I do know for sure is that getting a plate has no value if the driver cannot do Uber and or Lyft. Most drivers that want a plate is only to do Uber and Lyft, They are not interested in doing any bases
As always, the podcast was full of information and many points were hit on the head. I wanna start with what Carolyn said in terms of drivers should not be making less than $100,000 gross. if they were making that 20 years ago, then we should at least be making that today
Second, I wanna agree with Abe when he says that Uber and lyft should not be on the stock market because ultimately their main goal is to appease their stockholders, and with that they will sacrifice the drivers and even the customers to a certain extent
In relation to the price of the medallion in New York City, it all depends on city legislation. unfortunately, they have a lot of power in how the price of a medallion will move. At this point in time if I am able to make the same amount or more in a for higher vehicle , then there really isn’t a reason other than gaining an asset for me to drive a yellow cab instead of driving for higher vehicle.
It’s also interesting that even Carolyn mentioned something that I did not know about the fact that Yellow Cab had radios in the 70s and 80s, which is today’s equivalent to e hails. Was great because they opened the Yellow Taxi to a whole other Avenue of income, and the removal of such radio is probably one of the reasons the Yellow Cab got beat by Uber and LYFT. If Yellow Cab were still allowed to do prearranged jobs, then Yellow Cab would’ve adopted to the new way of hailing a cab (ehails) and they would not have been left behind, which was what ultimately caused the collapse of the Yellow Cab industry. I am disgusted with the city in the Tlc that only recently were these yellow cabs allowed to do ehails. If you really want this Yellow Cab industry to succeed, you need to give them the privilege of doing all rides in New York City and not only street hills but ehails.
Overall, very good points were made, especially regarding the fact that the city needs to first find out how many vehicles are needed in this industry and then work from there. I disagree with all the drivers that believe that everybody should get a plate because unfortunately the medallion system was created to avoid that same problem . The streets are flooded with for higher vehicles way more than we need and the result of it is low driver income, but many of these new drivers are shortsighted and are not looking at the bigger picture. Instead, they are demonizing the Rental fleets and the medallion owners. Obviously, I understand that capping plates gives an advantage to these fleets and medallion owners, but if you do not impose a straight cap on the plates, everybody will lose, especially the drivers.
I have come to the conclusion that the solution to this industry is simple not simple. On one hand, you need to come up with a reasonable cap on for higher vehicles and on the other hand, you need to give Yellow Cab an upper hand to the industry so that they do not go extinct . At the end of the day we want everybody to make money and not just minimum wage but a decent wage for the amount of work that we put into it.
On another note, it’s very interesting that the radios were taken out of Yellow Cab’s because there wasn’t enough supply in Manhattan particularly but at the same time, they did not want to add more medallions because that will ultimately dilute the value of the medallion, but it was at the cost of The individual driver taking away another source of income, which would ultimately be their demise 40 years later
Interesting point re. cabs losing (giving up) the radios and the ultimate impact down the road. My guess is taxi drivers more willingly gave them up because street hails were keeping them busy enough, had no base commission involved. Abe had one (Ding-a-Ling), but when he gave it up, he indicated it wasn't a big deal (although it also didn't cost him money). The whole radio dynamic was very interesting. Essentially, there used to be a market for buying / selling base franchises! Imagine, if Uber / Lyft followed this model and instead of taking a commission, sold a NYC franchise to receive their dispatches? Do you think drivers would like this model?
Given the current circumstances and 15k+ drivers on the waiting list i can tell u drivers wud buy an uber or lyft account in a heartbeat.
I wud definitely consider selling mine.
Right! An interesting thought! Let me take a step further, how much would you sell it for?
Well, I am not sure how much exactly definitely north of $20,000 if you ask me. But what I do know for sure is that getting a plate has no value if the driver cannot do Uber and or Lyft. Most drivers that want a plate is only to do Uber and Lyft, They are not interested in doing any bases
Really good points and very interesting take on prospective value of a Uber or Lyft NYC franchise!
It would be nice to investigate the black car radio market and how it actually worked. I was always curious. I guess uber was the end of that market
As always, the podcast was full of information and many points were hit on the head. I wanna start with what Carolyn said in terms of drivers should not be making less than $100,000 gross. if they were making that 20 years ago, then we should at least be making that today
Second, I wanna agree with Abe when he says that Uber and lyft should not be on the stock market because ultimately their main goal is to appease their stockholders, and with that they will sacrifice the drivers and even the customers to a certain extent
In relation to the price of the medallion in New York City, it all depends on city legislation. unfortunately, they have a lot of power in how the price of a medallion will move. At this point in time if I am able to make the same amount or more in a for higher vehicle , then there really isn’t a reason other than gaining an asset for me to drive a yellow cab instead of driving for higher vehicle.
It’s also interesting that even Carolyn mentioned something that I did not know about the fact that Yellow Cab had radios in the 70s and 80s, which is today’s equivalent to e hails. Was great because they opened the Yellow Taxi to a whole other Avenue of income, and the removal of such radio is probably one of the reasons the Yellow Cab got beat by Uber and LYFT. If Yellow Cab were still allowed to do prearranged jobs, then Yellow Cab would’ve adopted to the new way of hailing a cab (ehails) and they would not have been left behind, which was what ultimately caused the collapse of the Yellow Cab industry. I am disgusted with the city in the Tlc that only recently were these yellow cabs allowed to do ehails. If you really want this Yellow Cab industry to succeed, you need to give them the privilege of doing all rides in New York City and not only street hills but ehails.
Overall, very good points were made, especially regarding the fact that the city needs to first find out how many vehicles are needed in this industry and then work from there. I disagree with all the drivers that believe that everybody should get a plate because unfortunately the medallion system was created to avoid that same problem . The streets are flooded with for higher vehicles way more than we need and the result of it is low driver income, but many of these new drivers are shortsighted and are not looking at the bigger picture. Instead, they are demonizing the Rental fleets and the medallion owners. Obviously, I understand that capping plates gives an advantage to these fleets and medallion owners, but if you do not impose a straight cap on the plates, everybody will lose, especially the drivers.
I have come to the conclusion that the solution to this industry is simple not simple. On one hand, you need to come up with a reasonable cap on for higher vehicles and on the other hand, you need to give Yellow Cab an upper hand to the industry so that they do not go extinct . At the end of the day we want everybody to make money and not just minimum wage but a decent wage for the amount of work that we put into it.